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Thursday

Jul 24, 2008 at 5:00 AM

Street vendors targeted by city proposal

By Scott Zoback

Hawker. Peddler. Pushcart. Street vendor.

They&rsquo;re dirty words to certain ears.

For almost two months, Worcester city officials and politicians &mdash; buttressed by business owners of all walks &mdash; have waged a back-and-forth battle over what to do about those who sell their wares through mobile means. It&rsquo;s been heated, the kind of battle that elicits the most fundamental of emotions for business owners (and politicians) on both sides of the issue: survival.

But it&rsquo;s been so long since the conversation started, why are we still talking about it? Deliberations over the city budget don&rsquo;t take this long. And it&rsquo;s not like Worcester is traditionally a city with a huge street-vendor culture.

By itself, the matter of where the current slate of street vendors/hawkers/peddlers can set up is not a life-altering or city-ruining or -saving proposition. But it&rsquo;s symbolic, as it&rsquo;s an indicator of what city officials feel about small and smaller businesses, about nightlife, about downtown and about a so-called urban core. John Sweeney of Maybrook Hot Dog maneuvers his cart on Water Street.

&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a big deal, but once they&rsquo;re gone, ....&rdquo; posits City Councilor Frederick Rushton, one of the politicians supporting &ldquo;looser&rdquo; regulations on vendors.

Rushton says it&rsquo;s disingenuous to promote downtown development if you&rsquo;re trying to remove or prevent the smallest of business owners from setting up shop.

&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t promote an 18-hour city when your true definition is a 12-hour city,&rdquo; he says.

What&rsquo;s really on the table? Sources say that the end result, even the eventual proposal, is still up in the air. The City Council&rsquo;s Public Safety subcommittee will discuss the ordinance at an early August meeting; the Council could have a proposal back by their next meeting on Aug. 12.

Variations on the proposal to tighten restrictions on vendors have been discussed in back channels: eliminating the 500-feet-every-five-minutes moving requirement; eliminating or reducing the distance from existing businesses; changing the hours; and adjusting the downtown prohibition. So far, though, city councilors have come to no consensus, although several have claimed to be close to working out an agreement.

What&rsquo;s this really all about? Some say the whole mess is really over two vendors: One, the El Delicioso food truck that, if you ask its neighbors, has been a bane on the Main and Benefit street area neighborhood; and two, Captain Ron&rsquo;s, a downtown hotdog cart located (usually) across from the courthouse that some downtown businesses (The Irish Times, The Courtyard Caf&eacute; and The Courthouse Caf&eacute; among them) have complained about.

Original proposed ordinance

Vendors would:

&bull; be required to move at least 500 feet every five minutes.

&bull; be prohibited from operating between midnight and 5 a.m.

&bull; forbidden from setting up within 500 feet of any existing food establishment or any building where a food establishment had operated within the previous 12 months.

&bull; prohibited from Main Street between Lincoln and Federal squares.

&bull; prohibited from operating &ldquo;when the activities of patrons or purchasers create a threat to the physical safety of others.&rdquo;

Other proposals:

&bull; Vendors would need to get approval from the chief of police before applying to the Health Department for a food permit.

&bull; Home rule petition that would give city regulations precedence over state statutes.

Those businesses have claimed owner Ron LaFlash parked his food truck in front of their establishments during hours when they&rsquo;re open, stealing away potential customers. In a sort of cat-and-mouse game that&rsquo;s been ongoing since the courthouse opened last year, LaFlash&rsquo;s truck was booted from one spot to another until he purchased a small hot dog stand and setup in front of a parking lot between Irish Times and the Courthouse Caf&eacute;. With three locations, LaFlash says his spot across from the courthouse is a bustling business serving courthouse workers and visitors looking for a quick bite. LaFlash says he&rsquo;d be willing to buy a permit for a location on the sidewalk &mdash; if the city offered them.

Advocates of tight regulations say that the problem goes way beyond the two locations &mdash; but unofficially, even some of those proponents admit that they aren&rsquo;t really trying to target everyone. One city councilor pushing for tight regulations has admitted off the floor that some of the vendors who would be affected &ldquo;don&rsquo;t have to worry&rdquo;; an owner of The Irish Times &mdash; a supporter of increased vendor regulations &mdash; was overheard saying during one Council session that he didn&rsquo;t want to harm the vendors who service Little League games. He did speak in favor of the ordinance, however.

There&rsquo;s another oft-ignored aspect of the entire debate by advocates on both sides when they talk about getting a hot dog from a street hawker: This is about more than just hot dogs. The term &ldquo;street vendor/hawker&rdquo; really covers a lot of ground. There are hot dog vendors, pretzel sellers, purveyors of tofu, pork, flowers, Christmas trees, stuffed toys, sunglasses and T-shirts, to name a few. And the methods vary &mdash; there are pushcarts of various sizes, small food trailers, minivans, trucks or canteens, and large converted RVs. And that says nothing about those who show up on street corners with boxes and folding tables and set up/break down every day. Then there are the questions on how any eventual ordinance would affect farmers&rsquo; markets, etc.

On the following pages, we take a closer look at the pushcarts in the city, what other cities are doing and how it could impact you. o

Out on the street Business comes in waves. Mike Nishan decorates a dog.

At noon last Friday, Elm Park Hot Dogs owner Michael Nishan is standing in his truck where he&rsquo;s been tinkering around shooting the breeze with Worcester Magazine for the past hour. He&rsquo;s been out there since 8:30 a.m. A kid or two arrive looking for ice cream or soda &mdash; sometimes a mom or dad stop by while watching their children play in the park. About 12:15, though &mdash; in a matter of seconds &mdash; the line goes from one person to seven or eight.

Nishan is moving quickly to keep up with the orders. Two dogs with fries; a vanilla ice cream cone; burger with fries. A customer leans in and asks for one dog with &ldquo;everything&rdquo; on it. Everything? Nishan carries ketchup, mustard, relish, onions, sauerkraut, cheese, celery salt and chili. &ldquo;Everything&rdquo; never really means everything.

&ldquo;Mustard, relish and onions?&rdquo; Nishan asks.

That does the trick.

When business gets busy, it gets really busy. Then, as quickly as it came, the crowd clears. A pause before the next wave.

Nishan&rsquo;s been doing this gig for 23 years now. His truck, which carries far more than hot dogs and chips, is a mainstay at Elm Park &mdash; he likes to call himself the neighborhood &ldquo;convenience store.&rdquo; He has no competition. If you want something to eat or drink in the park, Elm Park Hot Dogs is your only option. It&rsquo;s Nishan&rsquo;s neighborhood &mdash; literally. His house is located across the street from where he parks the truck. He&rsquo;s president of the Neighborhood Association and a member of the neighborhood crime watch. Many customers know him by name.

&ldquo;Thanks, Mike&rdquo; a woman calls out as she walks off with bottled water and two dogs for her and her son. To others he and his son Andy &mdash; who&rsquo;s been running the business with his dad for the past 10 years &mdash; are just familiar faces.

Nishan&rsquo;s truck rarely comes up in conversations about problem vendors and the city&rsquo;s look into whether to increase restrictions on pushcarts. There isn&rsquo;t much crime in the park &mdash; thanks largely, some say, to the constant vigil of Nishan, a retired firefighter who&rsquo;s quick to ask questions or to call police if he sees something suspicious. And as for nearby food businesses to complain about him? There aren&rsquo;t any. You have to walk a ways up Park Avenue before you hit anything. Yet proposals to tighten restrictions on food vendors in the city could impact Nishan, depending on what final restrictions (if any) are passed. Currently, Elm Park Hot Dogs has a permanent parking spot at the park. Nishan puts a table and chairs out for customers, customers know where he is and he and his son make periodic garbage sweeps to keep the park clean. Should a proposal requiring food vendors to move 500 feet every five minutes pass, Nishan would have to find a way to meet the flurry of orders while driving the truck around the edges of the park all day. In short, he couldn&rsquo;t do it, he says.

Nishan has an impressively well-equipped truck now, but 23 years ago, he started out with a simple pushcart he made out of an oak cabinet &mdash; yes, he says, it was heavy. Vending cart owners get into the business for a variety of reasons. Nishan started his businesses after suffering chemical burns to his lungs during a plastics fire. He was forced to retire from the Worcester Fire Department.

&ldquo;I think everyone has to have something to do,&rdquo; Nishan says. &ldquo;I told the fellas in the coffee shop I&rsquo;m going to do something even if it&rsquo;s wrong.&rdquo;

Twenty-three years later, he seems to have done something right. Nishan says he&rsquo;s going on his third generation of customers. And as is typical of food-vendor customers, the customer base is pretty diverse.

&ldquo;I have the fella from the courthouse with the three-piece suit and behind him will be the fella with plaster on his hands or paint and behind him will be the bishop,&rdquo; Nishan says. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of good people here and a lot of people I&rsquo;ve been serving for a lot of years. I do it now because I enjoy it and after awhile it just becomes part of you.&rdquo;

Based solely on familiar faces, Nishan says his business is about 70% to 80% repeats. And he&rsquo;s got a very non-scientific way of spotting out-of-towners: &ldquo;If someone asks me for celery salt, I&rsquo;ll ask &lsquo;Are you from Rhode Island?&rsquo; I&rsquo;ll be right 90% of the time.&rdquo; o

Competitive market: Nishan&rsquo;s business is the only place to buy food or drink in and around Elm Park (except for Price Chopper).

About the proposed restrictions: Nishan says proposed regulations could border on age discrimination: &ldquo;A 22-year-old can push that cart 500 feet and keep going. A man in his 60s?&rdquo; Nishan suggests designated areas and restrictions on how close they can be to other food businesses.

&nbsp;

Captain Ron&rsquo;s Hot Dogs

Location: Three locations &mdash; across the street from the new courthouse on Main Street, on the sidewalk by the Registry of Motor Vehicles and a truck at UMass Memorial Hospital.

Owner: Ron LaFlash.

Years in business: 33 years in Worcester, three years in the courthouse area.

What they sell: Mostly dogs, chips and soda. Sometimes chicken, burgers, sausages and other grill items.

Competitive market: Courthouse location is set up on Main Street. Closest food businesses are the Garden Fresh Courthouse Caf&eacute;, Irish Times and Courtyard Caf&eacute;.

About the proposed restrictions: LaFlash says he&rsquo;s probably the reason for the proposed restrictions, having been batted from spot to spot along Main Street. He says vendors ought to be able to rent spots from the city. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m willing to pay for a good location or a place to park,&rdquo; he says.

&nbsp;

Corey&rsquo;s Famous Hot Dogs II

Location: Corner of Front and Main streets in front of City Hall.

Owner: Jane Kaufman.

Years in business: Four years under the current name and location.

What they sell: Dogs, chili dogs, chips, soda.

Competitive market: Corey isn&rsquo;t directly in front of any business, but is smack in the downtown area.

About the proposed restrictions: &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t even hear about it. I only know they&rsquo;re trying to shut the vendors down. Many of the vendors around are properly licensed, some aren&rsquo;t. It becomes a health issue having those guys serving food. Don&rsquo;t shut everybody down, but there needs to be some way to keep things in order and healthy.&rdquo;

&nbsp;

Jim&rsquo;s Hot Dogs

Location: Shrewsbury Street.

Owner: James Halsdorf.

Years in business: Four.

Competitive market: Shrewsbury Street has one of the highest concentrations of restaurants in the city, but Halsdorf says he gets no complaints and at least one local restaurant owner drops by for a dog now and then.

What they sell: Dogs, chips and soda.

About the proposed restrictions: &ldquo;I think we have enough regulations as it is. It took me three times going through inspections just to pass. I made them tell me exactly what I needed to do to get up to code. Look at this, they said I needed one sink, but I got four just in case. We have all the regulations we&rsquo;re ever going to need. They need to crack down with the inspections.&rdquo;

What sells?Mike Nishan makes change at Elm Park.

&bull; When it comes to pushing food, not surprisingly, hot dogs are the biggest seller at Elm Park Hot Dogs, Nishan says. Right behind it is the stand&rsquo;s hamburger deluxe.

&bull; Popcorn is the latest &ldquo;food&rdquo; to be added to Nishan&rsquo;s stand. And, he says, because it&rsquo;s so cheap to make, it&rsquo;s the biggest moneymaker &mdash; at only $1.50 a bag. He marvels that it&rsquo;s taken him 23 years to figure this out.

&bull; The items he carries that don&rsquo;t pull in much money are ice cream novelties. At $1 he doesn&rsquo;t make much off them, but likes to keep them on the menu and moves a lot of them.

&bull; The most expensive thing on Elm Parks&rsquo; menu: Chicken fingers and fries for $5.50.

&bull; Not every new thing Nishan comes up with works. His most recent failure was barbecued pulled pork. Couldn&rsquo;t sell it, he says.

&bull; Nishan says it costs him about $70 a day for propane and gasoline for his truck. o

&mdash; Noah R. Bombard

Vendors at CitySquare?

It wasn&rsquo;t long after the proposed street-vendor regulations went public that some eagle-eyed development watchers noticed that they would affect the most prominent project in town: CitySquare.

Right there, in the CitySquare renderings: Street vendors.

Essentially, if enforced, the original regulatory proposal would have rendered the renderings moot. Even some of the suggested revisions could leave downtown essentially off-limits for mobile vendors.

Barbara Smith-Bacon, of CitySquare developer Berkeley Investments, sounds a bit incredulous at the thought of vendors being forced to move every five minutes or of them being banned from her project.

&ldquo;We think street vendors bring real interest to the streetscape,&rdquo; she says, saying they&rsquo;ll be a welcome addition to CitySquare.

She cites successful Boston-based vendor regulations, including those at Fanueil Hall. But the best example, she says, is Downtown Crossing.

&ldquo;They have an organization called the Downtown Crossing Association that selects vendors, makes sure they are permitted, manages them, makes sure they&rsquo;re up to standards, [and] in the right locations.&rdquo; (Go to downtowncrossing.org, and there&rsquo;s even a directory of pushcarts.)

&ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s a reasonable level of management.&rdquo;

&ldquo;Our expectation is that there would be vendors in the area. We&rsquo;ll work cooperatively with the city and the permitting authorities &mdash; [but] we&rsquo;d hate to see them foreclosed from CitySquare.&rdquo; o

What do other cities do?

&bull; In Portland, Ore., the Urban Vitality Group teamed with the city&rsquo;s Bureau of Planning to do a full study of street-cart culture, finding that &ldquo;food carts have positive impacts on street vitality and neighborhood life in lower-density residential neighborhoods as well as in the high-density downtown area.&rdquo;

&bull; New York City passed a law in February that would grant 1,000 new vendor licenses ONLY to vendors who exclusively sell fruits and vegetables

&bull; Toronto is working on a program that is meant to &ldquo;introduce the sale of safe, healthy, nutritious and ethnically diverse foods and to evaluate the commercial viability of an expanded program.&rdquo; The city will charge location fees (rents) to vendors, thus regulating where they can go.

&bull; Austin, Tex., limits vendors to more than 20 feet from any restaurant in a building; residential areas can prohibit them from within 300 feet of certain homes. Mobile vendors can&rsquo;t operate between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m., and must have trash cans available at all times.

&bull; Tavares, Fla., recently allowed mobile food vendors in an effort to spark downtown; they quickly moved to adjust the rule when a vendor put up two large canopies in front of the county courthouse. Officials will most likely legislate where vendors can set up.

&bull; In response to restaurateur complaints, Los Angeles County supervisors passed a law that forces taco-truck owners to move every hour. One recently cited vendor was reportedly facing up to a $1,000 fine and six months in jail if convicted. o

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